Book Review: Checking Inn by Emily Harper

And Emily Harper does it again! Once again she creates a fantastic page-turner with funny, brilliant characters.

I recently read Emily’s debut ‘White Lies’ and totally loved it. I’m so glad Emily didn’t disappoint me, and what’s even better she created a totally different story from her debut, adding mystery elements. So, ‘Checking Inn’ is great mixture of chick lit and cozy mystery, with lots of lovable characters you’ll root for.

The story is centered around Kate Foster, who runs the Summerside Inn with her hilarious mom. Now Kate and her mother can’t be more different. While Kate lives her life according to to-do lists and is a proud owner of an OCD, her mum seems to never do the right thing (even the tiniest things Kate tells her to do). I absolutely loved their dialogues and their relationship. They had me laughing out loud on so many occasions.

Kate practically lives for her Inn, she’s a workaholic and her dream is to make the Inn a fantastic plastic everyone will wan’t to visit. And she’s so close to fulfilling her dreams, till one day an acclaimed hotel critic arrives at the Inn and ends up dead. To make things worse, this acclaimed critic is no other than Samantha Manning, an evil bitch Kate has history with. Kate is terrified she’ll be No.1 suspect once everyone finds out that she and Samantha didn’t really get along (said mildly).

Things get even more serious when police steps in and Kate soon finds out she’s never been in a more difficult situation. Jail, losing her Inn..everything seems possible. She needs to prove she’s innocent as well as save her Inn, but boy, there will be lots of drama.

As I said, ‘Checking Inn’ is somewhat different to ‘White Lies’, there’s more drama and action, and I loved the fast pacing. I loved Kate from the minute I was introduced to her. I’m not actually like her, but she’s such a fun and funny person, you really can’t help but love her. I admit, there were times when I thought she cares too much about her Inn instead of the fact that someone she knew died, but once you understand her relationship with Samantha you might even approve of her behavior. And OMG, I hated Samantha, she’s way too arrogant and evil.

There’s a bit of romance too, but it’s not in the center of the story, and is rather gradually built. But that’s what I like most about Emily’s writing, she’s so subtle, adding just about enough romance to make the story better.

Overall, this was yet another brilliant chick lit novel by Emily Harper. She’s fast become one of my favorite chick lit authors and I can’t wait to read something new by her. She really knows how to create uberfun, easy to read stories with characters that will make you lough out loud. I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend both books by Emily Harper. Trust me, you’re gonna love them.

6 responses to “Book Review: Checking Inn by Emily Harper”

Oh it’s such a fun book Margaret! Just like White Lies, which I loved too. There’s something about Emily’s writing style…she does know how to create a super fun characters & get them into these hilarious situations. Hope you enjoy it too lovely. XX